I’ve always been fascinated by the Olympics. It’s a dramatic and entertaining saga about the world’s best athletes gathering together in one place to showcase their skills, seemingly pushing themselves beyond mortal limits in the pursuit of perfection. I never cease to be stunned by their abilities. 

Gymnastics, in particular, with its utilization of what seems like every muscle in the body, makes for a delightful demonstration of the extreme capabilities of the modern human. 

I also enjoy swimming, mainly because teaching swimming is one of my professions. I love to explore the technical aspects of swimming mechanics, which is interesting in itself, but the coolest part of it is that to learn the fundamentals of swimming (floating and vertical, as opposed to horizontal, orientation), we must first overcome the instincts of our reptilian brain, which is coded into our DNA’s evolutionary history when mammals emerged out of reptiles an estimated 200 million years ago. 

Swimming, in short, is one of the most unnatural activities one can engage in. After all, the evolving creature known as Man left the water for the land to escape predators a long, long time ago, and eventually left the ground for the trees to escape predators. So really, we’ve evolved to be as far away from the water as humanly (or rather, Monkey-ly) possible. Those humans today who know how to swim may have tentatively returned to the water, but as a whole, we’re all still pretty suspicious of it.

In any case, athletics is a wonderful path to self-discovery. The times in my life where I’ve personally felt the best is when I’ve been active, be it swimming, or biking, or skiing, or just making trips to the gym a few times a week. So I love the Olympics for those reasons. 

Unfortunately, the Olympics have recently left a sour taste in my mouth, due mostly to my recent transition to one who is a skeptic of the nation-state.

Why do the Olympics have to be all about nationalism and patriotism? Why must they be sponsored by government? Why do the ceremonies and coverage seem like something straight out of “The Hunger Games”?

First of all, the cost to taxpayers is enormous. Like all government cost estimates, it’s always more expensive in the end. When London won the bid for the 2012 Olympic games in 2005, the estimated cost was under £ 3 Billion. Now, when all is said and done, the estimate is now as high as a staggering £ 24 Billion. And that’s just the UK. Granted, there are “private” corporate sponsors, but of course some of them benefit directly from state regulations, subsidies, and bailouts. Geographic monopolies of violence known as governments around the world spend millions more just in subsidies and travel expenses to their prized athletes and their even more highly prized politicians – all stolen money, of course.

And if you are an athlete competing in the name of the U.S.A, and come in 0.02 seconds in front of the other guy to win a medal, guess what? You’re taxed. You’re taxed on the medal itself – which, interestingly, actually does contain some precious metals – and you’re taxed on the prize money you receive from the Olympic committee. Assuming a tax rate of 35%, gold medalists can expect a tax bill of about $8,750 on their $25,000 prize when they arrive back in the U.S. Silver medalists: $5,250. Bronze: $3,500. That’s an immediate tax liability which will be enforced under the threat of violence – that’s what you get when you’re the best in the world, but happen to live on an oppressive tax farm such as the U.S.S.A. “Congratulations and welcome back! Now where’s our cut?”

Also, the extent to which these athletes push themselves (or, perhaps more often, are pushed by others) is disconcerting. Say you’re an athlete at the minimum age one is allowed to compete in the Olympics, which is 16 (or 14, if you’re a Chinese gymnast with government-forged documents), can this really be all your choice? Do you really have the capacity to make the choice to end your social life, to end your play days, to possibly injure your developing body in pursuit of an Olympic medal? Perhaps. Unfortunately, the interviews that the monopolistic Nationalistic Broadcasting Corporation (NBC) conduct with the families of the athletes lead me to believe that these young people are pushed beyond their desires – are bullied into thinking that the only way to earn their parent’s love is to be the best athlete. While this may just be hypothetical, I’ve never known someone to ask an athlete “Is this what you want to do?” Instead, they are only praised for their athletic prowess and success, and heckled and portrayed as failures when they finish mere seconds slower than the winner, as I see happening to swimmer Michael Phelps. For God’s sake, give the guy a break.

Lastly, the patriotic undertones of the whole thing are sickening. The awards podium perhaps demonstrates this the best. The crowd quiets down, the commentators stop their incessant chatting, and in comes the gentle music of violent nations: The National Anthem, to which the athletes have implicitly sworn their allegiance to. The camera zooms in the face of the gold medalist. With intense, focused eyes, their lips begin to quiver and a tear rolls down their cheek. You can almost hear them think “I love my country. I love my country. Oh God, I love my country!”

Puke.

The Olympics is not just a literal tax on our bank accounts. It is a tax on our account of the reality of what governments are and what they do. If we think that governments create great athletes, we can ignore or even overlook the fact that governments really create poverty and commit murder.

I would love to see an Olympics free of Statism. An Olympics where athletes compete for themselves, not their geographic monopolies of violence. I would love to see an Olympics without a “Team Rwanda.” Without a “Team China.” Without a “Team U.S.A.” Because no matter how you slice it, it’s just “Team Tyranny.”

Thanks and peace,

Nick Foley
The Book of Nick Newsletter
http://www.youtube.com/bookofnick
http://www.twitter.com/bookofnick